Sole Who Arrived
by FSCanonne
Summary: When Kushina invites everybody to come to her house to taste her cook, nobody came. Crying over this, she heard the creaking of a door, and saw Minato.


The nightsky was meddled with an indigo horizon and a flock of grey clouds. The wind whispered at the trees as well at his soft, blonde spikes. The scarlet ribbon of his gift was flapping naughtily. Minato was arriving at Kushina's little party. It wasn't a potluck party, so he didn't bring food to share. But he wanted to give Kushina something so, although Kushina didn't ask for a gift, Minato bought one for her. Earlier that day, she invited everybody in class to attend. He reminsced her invitation: "I'm going to have a mini-party in my house. You don't need to bring anything, just yourselves."

Minato stopped in front of her house; soft, dandelion lights tinted the windows, and at the end of the roof were waves carved from wood, that greatly resembled clouds from the day till night. He knocked at the door, and looked at his gift; it mirrored Kushina's appearance. The wrapper was white and was enclosed with a scarlet ribbon. He thought of Kushina's reaction once she receives it (actually he hoped she'll be happy; he didn't really thought about what she liked).

After he heard no footsteps coming for the door, he knocked again. He waited for a few more seconds, but nobody seemed to hear him. Curious of what was happening inside, Minato tried to open the door, and gladly, it wasn't locked. He called out Kushina's name as he entered.

As he stepped farther and farther from the door, he heard a girl's cry ascend. It was Kushina; her voice was very familiar to his ears, and he had always imagined hearing then to pull him to slip. He closed the door and started to find for Kushina.

He checked the living room; books and magazines were scattered throughout it. Mostly all of it were cookbooks. Some were opened in the dinner section, and some were opened in the dessert section. Large pictures of cakes, strawberry mousse, ramen and spaghletti with the procedure beside it. There was a long receipt of ingredients, pinned on the table with silver coins. Kushina must've bought them to fuel her party. He seeked the books, but resumed to finding Kushina once the cry got through his head.

The cry was apparently coming from that room, scented with a spaghetti's sauce blended in the air with chocolate.

When he reached the dining room, he peaked through the passage, and there he saw Kushina, her elegant, red hair tied into a ponytail. She was crying all alone, grieving over the meals she had cooked for her party. Minato frowned at her. He looked at his gift, and he thought, maybe, it would make her day.

There was a chocolate cake, five large bowls of spaghetti, a mangkok of ramen and more that was apparently cooked from the cookbooks in the living room. Minato was impressed at her cook.

When Minato opened the door widely to enter, Kushina quickly stood up and glanced at the doorknob.

"Hi." Minato projected a frowny smile. "I brought you a gift. It... has your favorite."

Kushina's eyes widened at Minato's presence while tears continue to drive off from her green eyes. She didn't expect him to attend her party.

She sank to her chair.

"I'm sorry I was late." said Minato, looking at his gift. "I had to stopped by the shop to buy you something.

Minato approached to a chair.

"Why d-did you come?" Kushina asked, her voicerusty from crying, accompanied by little sneezes.

"You invited everyone, didn't you?" Minato asked, starting to think if she actually did invite everyone.

"I did, but..." said Kushina as Minato waited. "I... never expected you to come."

"Well, I'm... here now." Minato was trying his best to cheer Kushina up. He couldn't stand Kushina like this.

Kushina didn't reply.

Minato fidgeted with his fingers on top of his gift, waiting for Kushina to talk to him. Hoping it would cheer her up, he was about to give the gift he had bought for her. But before he even had his hands stop from fidgeting, Kushina interrupted his fingers, grabbing them.

"That's annoying." Kushina's eyes were at the edge of anger.

Minato looked at Kushina, his face going red as he apologized: "Sorry."

Kushina loved moments like this, when Minato would frown as if he was scolded. She always liked the way he behaved right away. She saw his confused eyes, wandering as they frown, nervous that instead of cheering her up, he made her mad.

Kushina's grab softened to a hold and her eyes rested in a soft, comfortable shape. "I'm glad you came."

Minato gazed at Kushina's tender smile. He hardened his hands with hers, and moved his chair close to hers. There was a silence as they held hands; Minato knew she wanted this silence.

"Do you want to eat?" asked Kushina, scared that flies would go over the meals.

"Yes." Minato answered with a wide smile, wide enough to close his eyes.

Kushina let go of his hand and stood up. She wiped the tears on her face with her arm. "Actually, I-i... uh... this party was supposed to let everybody taste my cook. I wanted to get multiple feedbacks from many people, so I invited the whole class."

She grabbed two round plates and a pair of forks from the cabinet, and labeled them on the table. She pulled the fork from the spaghetti bowl and started twisting it to obtain spaghetti.

"Why were you crying?" asked Minato, missing the apparent reason.

Kushina paused from getting spaghetti. She bit her bottom lip. "Isn't it obvious? Nobody came to my party. I thought being nice to everyone would get them to like me, but I guess they never really care what I say from the start."

She resumed, "But you're here." her voice hinted a smile. "I have nothing to grieve about now... because you're here.

Only the sloppy sound of twisting spaghetti filled the room. If it weren't for Minato, Kushina would've done something to these meals, something that would make it a waste. But he came, he who saved her from the Komogakure. Once the two plates were served with spaghetti, Kushina called, "I'm done."

The smell of the spaghetti satisfied Minato's nose while Kushina carries it to him. He seized his plate and fork. Kushina sat down beside him. She noticed that Minato was going wild on the spaghetti once he began to eat. His mouth barely closed once he got spaghetti in his fork. Surprisingly, he ate it like ramen. The sauce was all over his chin; he even got some in his nose bridge.

Kushina got a tissue, and wiped Minato's chin, "Slow down with the food, will you?"

Kushina continued wiping his chin, smiling at him; while doing so, she asked about the food, "Are they good?"

"Erf corsh!" he mumbled happily, pausing from his spaghetti.

Kushina laughed at him, "Well, you better finish that, because we still have a cake. But don't hurry; you might choke."

Minato continued to sip the spaghetti, but when he did not hear Kushina eating, he stopped eating, and looked at her. She was smiling at him tearfully.

Minato sipped the noodle hanging over his mouth to ask: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me. Come on." Minato insisted, putting his fork down.

Kushina eyed his spaghetti, telling him to continue.

"Look," Minato's hand looked for hers. "I know you're still hurt that nobody came."

"It's not that and I'm actually smiling so I'm not hurt over that. I just really like watching you eat." Kushina replied.

Minato thoughtlessly grinned at her comment, but afterwards, he found it embarassing. Kushina mockingly poked his nose, giggling. To distract her from his dumbfounded smile, he brought out his gift to her.

"Oh, by the way... the gift!" he excitedly said as he carried the gift to the table.

Kushina was curious of what the gift had.

"What is it?" asked Kushina.

"Open it," he gave the gift to Kushina. "Though you'll probably be upset. Not because you don't like it, but because I think you would want a better gift."

Minato was thinking with so many possibilities of how she might react. Upset because she eats them the most or glad because she likes it the most. Maybe she'd even throw the gift and shove his face onto the chocolate cake for such a cheap gift.

"Ready-to-cook ramen noodles?" asked Kushina her left eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. That's the only thing my money could afford and... you like ramen, right?" he asked nervously.

"Wait a second..."

Kushina skimmed the pack. She was looking for its type as she had a favorite type when it comes to ramen.

"You bought me salt ramen?!" there was a confusion between anger and joy when Minato heard her, so he couldn't really tell if she was happy or mad.

"Yes. If it's not your favorite, then, I'll just give them back to the shop and refu-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Kushina jumped onto him happily, her arms tightly wrapped around his neck. He held her waist, knowing they will fall, so he'll fall first. They overcame the chair and fell, but the two didn't seem to care.

"Thank you, Minato!" thanked Kushina, squeezing him as to show her appreciation.

The two were laughing at how they fell on the floor. Kushina couldn't stop giggling. That night, Minato was glad he had made Kushina happy, at least a little. Her eyes were closed tightly, tearing up from joy.

Even though no one came to her party, she was pleased... because Minato came.


End file.
